More and more Internet-enabled devices are finding their way into the workplace. These devices may include but are not limited to mobile (as well as stationary) devices. Non-limiting examples of such devices may include smart-phones, tablets and notebooks.
Employee data may be scattered among company infrastructure, mobile devices, mobile memory and web service accounts.
Mobile applications with distributed data may pose new challenges to enterprise IT. These challenges can include at least some of the following: (i) data accessibility and sharing challenges (for example—how can content created on various platforms be instantly accessible by geographically dispersed employees and how can this data be shared); (ii) data control challenges (for example—how can IT track and manage dispersed data and how to perform transparent backups across mobile devices); (iii) data security challenges (for example—how to prevent data theft, leaks and intermixing with personal data); (iv) communication and storage costs challenges (for example—cellular networks expensive for massive data transfers—control of costs, or how much can existing enterprise investments in storage and networks be leveraged).
Simultaneously, a wide-array of computerized sophisticated multi-functional portable devices and gadgets have entered the consumer market. Examples include smartphones, tablets, video and still cameras, audio and video players, portable game consoles, GPS navigators, PDAs, laptops. Homes are widely being networked, mainly via wireless home networks (such as WiFi and WiMax). Many devices can be connected today directly to the home network, and from there to the external Internet. Other devices, using Bluetooth or other local wireless and wired connections, are connected to the global Internet through other devices. Similarly, portable devices are also becoming constantly connected, through public cellular and wireless infrastructure. Furthermore, devices that are not linked directly to the Internet have the ability to connect through local networks to Internet-connected devices. However, despite the fact that a growing number of these devices have constant internet connectivity, there is no interoperability between any of these devices, or between them and the home computer. Applications developed on a single device utilize the capabilities of another device effectively.